Disclaimer: Same as chapter 1.

Note: Just notice I wrote about four chapters instead of just two.

Chapter 7: Alice in Wonderland

September

Over the next few weeks, Emmett had tried everything to explain, to help Rian. But she wouldn't let him close enough to do anything, not that he could blame her. As far as he could tell the girl most likely had some kind of run-in with a vampire before, a red eyed vampire, which left her scarred for life. He desperately wanted to help her, but he had run out of ideas how three days ago. Now he was left in the back seat, watching her seek help elsewhere; where they would convince her she was mental. He wasn't sure if that was the case or not, though. He had one last idea, one that had to work: Alice.

Alice was in almost all of her classes with her, all but her Art class. They were in the same year at school, while Emmett and Jasper were enrolled in the senior year. She had experience of being 'crazy' too, at least she could remember some of her time in the asylum back in the twenties. So he clung to the hope that she could help get through to her. He could not stand the idea that he had lost her too, Rose's death still hitting to close to home lately.

Rian felt she was beginning to get better again, this time without a trip to the hospital. (Rian had finally decided to tell her doctor about everything minus the fact that she was beginning to believe that everything that happened was real.) She has several sessions with her therapist a week; where the woman helps Rian find ways to differentiate between reality and fiction. She has grown to asking others if something was true or not; and by others, it was mostly Winter that she would ask the questions. She knew eventually she would have to talk to Emmett again, ask him her questions of 'truth or fiction'. But she wasn't sure if she was ready to hear the answers yet. Somehow she had slowly started developing feelings for the man that she was sure was a hallucination in Emmett's form and to hear that it was all false. The idea alone was tearing her to shreds.

Rian was sitting in the middle of the history class, everyone supposed to be doing homework or having free time when they were finished, but she couldn't concentrate on the work in front of her. She was finding herself having a harder and harder time focusing on anything lately.

"You just can't seem to make up your mind, can you, sweetie?" A genuinely sweet voice said so low Rian almost missed it.

When Rian looked up at the person, she realized it was Emmett's sister, Alice. Her cheerfulness she had caught from the voice disappeared. "I'm sorry?"

"You are completely happy with Emmett one moment and the next you are angry?" Alice said as if she was covering something up.

"He…uh…" Rian started to say he took advantage of a mentally disabled girl, but she realized she wasn't sure what exactly he had told his sister. She didn't want to bring up her sex life or her mental status if Alice had no idea what was going on with her.

Alice took an empty seat that was close to Rian and sat down gracefully, as if adding to the vampiric nature she already possessed. Again, Rian was confused why this girl was making her so calm when in all her nightmares she was out of her mind in fear whenever faced with a vampire. Maybe it was their different eyes that gave Rian the false sense of security, she was convinced it was false.

"I can't say I know what you are going through, but I had a similar situation when I was…young." By that she meant alive.

"What situation?"

"I had … distorted visions. I would see terrifying and horrible things that didn't make a lot of sense at the time. People didn't understand."

"How did you make them stop?"

"I didn't, sweetie. I still have them, they are just clearer and I now understand what they mean."

"What do they mean, then?"

Alice laughed, a small airy laugh that made Rian's throat close to keep herself from laughing with her. "Why don't you meet me somewhere quiet after school so we can talk freely?"

Rian's protective brain wanted to scream "HELL NO!" at her, but for some reason she ended up agreeing to meet her at the café down the street.

At the café, Rian found Alice already sitting in the corner table far from everyone else. At least there were still people here if she needed help, not that it would probably help much against a vampire. Alice could probably drain everyone here before anyone finished dialing '911'.

Alice gave the girl a sweet smile as Rian sat down across the table from her.

"My visions were snippets of the future, only when I was human it was hard to see them clearly and interpret them correctly. Many people thought I was insane, and I believed it too. They were driving me crazy. I couldn't control them and by the time I was 17 or 18, I was raving mad. I was always speaking non-sense and I didn't actually know what was going on most of the time."

Rian looked down at her hands, what Alice was describing sounded just how she was last year. Last summer, Rian woke up, completely screaming in pain one day. She couldn't remember what the dream was, just that it was heartbreaking and painful. She had started mumbling to herself at home and wouldn't leave the house. She couldn't even remember what her name was at the time. It wasn't long before her father was seeking outside help for her.

Alice knew that something in her story had reminded Rian of how she had been some time ago. She could see it in the young girl's eyes.

"I was still mad when I was turned. But when I woke up everything was clear. My mind was no longer hazy and I understood the visions. I could see them more clearly."

"Turning into a vampire helped you?"

"In the sense that I was no longer suffering from insanity, yes. But it comes with its own challenges."

The girl's fell quiet when the waitress brought them the food Rian had ordered. But as soon as the older woman left, the conversation continued. "I know you are afraid of us. But I thought if you talked to Carlisle he might be able to help you." Rian gave the girl a questioning look as she stuffed fries in her mouth. "He is a doctor and the one own made us…well, most of our family. Jasper and I were changed by others."

"There's others here?" Rian was about to bolt out the door.

"Just our family, sweetie. Most of whom have little trouble sticking to our diet."

"Most?" Rian jokingly laughed, while half serious.

"Yeah, Jasper has the hardest time of all of us with control." Okay, well that wasn't the answer she expected.

"Think about seeing Carlisle, please. You would be able to be completely open with him without fearing being sent to the looney bin."